


Power Struggle

by CatWinchester, evieplease



Category: MCU, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Guilt, Lessons, Sarcasm, Snark, Student-Teacher, deadly powers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-11
Updated: 2018-07-11
Packaged: 2019-04-21 15:42:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14288145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CatWinchester/pseuds/CatWinchester, https://archiveofourown.org/users/evieplease/pseuds/evieplease
Summary: Given the choice of spending the rest of her life imprisoned in The Fridge, or learning to control her deadly power, Roxy comes to Avengers Tower and finds an unusual ally in Loki, who has a unique insight into her ability to absorb and manipulate energy.Sentenced to help the Avengers to make reparations his crimes, Loki senses a distraction from the mundanity of his life in Roxy, but he soon learns she’s a lot more than just a diversion.But can a relationship between a mortal and a demigod ever work?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Written in collaboration with the wonderful Evieplease who helped me make one scene into a proper story.

**Chapter One**

I walked into the kitchen to find Loki the only one there.

“Good morning, Foxy,” he smiled at me. 

“It’s Roxy!” I snapped back, but I didn't really mean it. I didn’t mind that he called me Foxy. Sometimes I quite liked it. Other times, especially recently, it irritated the hell out of me, but today wasn’t one of those times. Not yet. 

I was late to breakfast, but then I usually am, so everyone else had gone off to do their daily activities. Only Loki remained because of some weird deal he had with Thor that he couldn’t be alone in his rooms for too long. I think they were worried he’d plot world domination or something, so other than sleep, he was only allowed to spend three hours in his rooms. 

Of course Loki found a loophole, spending his days in the common areas when he was usually alone, then he would retreat to his rooms once he’d had his fill of interacting with people who were still wary of him. 

I didn’t have much in the way of daily activities, just a couple of hours in the lab each day, so I often found myself in his company. I think he’d resented the intrusion at first but once he realised I was content to bury my head in a book for most of the day, he’d become a lot less hostile. 

He still called me Foxy though. 

I didn’t feel the same animosity towards him as the Avengers felt. Given my past, who was I to judge anyone else? 

I took my cereal over to the sofas and I turned the news on while I ate, but I kept the volume low in case Loki wanted to read. 

I was dreading what came next, which might be why I snapped at Loki. 

Feeling a pang of guilt, I looked over at him where he sat at the kitchen table, pouring over physics papers as he tried to understand our science. He seemed pretty knowledgeable, at least to me. I’d tried to read a couple of paragraphs of the papers a time or two but while it looked like English, I was pretty sure it was some kind of alien language that was just pretending to be English. 

I wouldn’t mind having more of a science brain, it might make understanding my powers easier. 

Basically I can absorb and reflect energy. All types, kinetic, electromagnetic, heat, electric. I can even change one form of energy to another, but that takes some work. What I can’t do is  _ store _ energy, so if I were to go into a battle situation I’m useless until someone tries to kill me, which charges me up. Then once I discharge that energy, I’m useless again. 

It also isn’t very safe because the energy I reflect back out is just as powerful as what I was hit with, so sometimes I have no choice but to use deadly force. 

Tony had suggested giving me an arc reactor so I can keep myself charged up on the battlefield, but in that case I was no more useful than a ray gun, and plenty of people could wield an energy weapon with more accuracy and skill than I could wield my powers. 

No, I had to learn to hold onto a charge, they said, then mete it out in controlled bursts so I could learn to control my gift.  

I hated it. 

Bruce assured me it was just because I hadn't had enough practice, and he could well be right. I mean, I didn't even know I had this power until I was 29 years old, four and a half weeks ago, to be exact. 

Looking back though, I could remember some weird things I’d just brushed off at the time that now made sense. For example, I’d received a small electric shock from a car battery while helping my dad with his car, but it didn’t hurt. Later that same day the microwave blew up when I tried to make some popcorn, but Dad just said it must be a faulty wiring. 

And then there was that one time in highschool when a former friend slapped me because of a lie someone had told her. That hadn't hurt either. I hadn't tried to slap her back but when I angrily pushed my way out of the cafeteria, I remember pushing the heavy door so hard it rebounded off the wall. Now I realised I’d given it the energy of her slap as well as my usual strength. 

For the last three weeks, Bruce and Tony had been testing me, seeing how my power worked. For the last three days they’d been charging me up with electricity at the end of each session and making me hold it in for one hour, increasing by ten minutes each day. At the end I returned to the lab and tried to dispel the energy in small bursts rather than all at once. 

Today I’d have to wait. Today I’d have to be a walking battery for an hour and 40 minutes.  

Stressful as it has been, I missed my job. Right now I’d gladly take trying to teach a classroom of 40 cynical teenagers to appreciate Shakespeare over walking around like the fucking Duracell bunny all day.

***

“Goddamnit!” I cried, shaking my hand to try and shake the pain away.

So after two hours of tests, I was now charged up like a frigging battery and almost everything I touched gave  _ me _ a shock. It would be another hour until I was allowed to discharge myself, and until then my life was going to be a living hell. 

I would kill for a cold soda, but I knew I’d fry any electrical equipment I tried to touch right now. Hell, even walking too close to some machines was enough to fry their circuits. 

“Something wrong?” Loki asked, a smug smile on his face. 

He knew damn well what was wrong. 

“I just got a shock off the glass,” I grumbled, massaging my fingers. Glass isn’t even a good conductor! And no, wearing rubber soles doesn’t help. 

He turned to me, one hand on the back of his chair as he studied me. 

“I might be able to help, Foxy.” 

“Yeah, and what will it cost me this time?” I asked. 

Bastard always wanted something. 

He just stared at me for a long time, especially my hair. Trying to retain a charge gave me a lovely static frizz halo that Loki apparently found endlessly amusing. And it’s huge! If it had a curl I would look very much like I was auditioning for the Jackson 5. I’d tried tying it up but the hair always escaped, even, when I used hair spray. Short of gelling it down, I’d resigned myself to looking like some kind of Medusa wannabe. 

“Hmm,” he pretended to consider my offer. “One compliment, I think.” 

Bloody bastard must know how attractive he is! 

“How about I don’t shock you instead?” I asked with a faux smile, letting a little electricity arc between my fingers as I spoke. 

It didn’t hurt me when I intended to give energy out, only when it was  _ pulled _ from me, for want of a better word. 

“Oh, we’re onto the forepay already?” he snarked. 

I wasn’t in the mood and zapped him. He actually looked surprised, so I realised it must have been stronger than my regular zaps. He quickly recovered from his shock and because I felt bad, I decided to give him his compliment. 

“I like your hair.” I couldn’t help the begrudging tone of my voice. “And you have a very nice smile, when you smile properly.”

“Properly?” he sounded surprised as he went to the fridge and got me a diet coke. “Whatever do you mean by that?” He approached, standing close, but he didn’t hand my soda over. 

Damn. He was going to torment me a while longer. I huffed exasperation.

“I mean when you’re not smirking and having fun at someone else’s expense. Very occasionally, when you think no one’s watching, you read something or hear something, and you just smile. I like  _ that _ smile.”

He stared at me, his expression implacable, and I felt myself blushing. Now the bastard knew I sometimes watched him. 

I snatched for my soda but Loki danced away before I could grab it. 

“Give it to me!” I demanded. He’d got two compliments  _ and _ a confession out of me, what more did he want?

I advanced at him, my hand poised to shock him again. He backed away, seemingly enjoying my threat. 

“You got what you wanted, so give it to me!”

“You like watching me,” he taunted. “I can understand why, a human in the presence of a God.”

I zapped him gently and he laughed. 

“It must be the same as when dogs gaze adoringly at their owners.”

_Dog_ _am_ _I_? I shocked him again. I’d like to see a dog do that!

“Oh! That one tickled!” 

I let him have it, such a strong shock that he was frozen for a second and I snatched the can and ran from the room before he could retaliate. 

I flinched at the thud I heard as I left, wondering what Loki had broken in retaliation. 

Funnily enough though, as annoying as Loki was, I always noticed that I leaked less energy following a confrontation with him. Maybe zapping him with a little energy helped me control the rest. 

I went to my rooms but left the main door open. Saying ‘rooms’ makes it sound like an apartment, but I actually just have three rooms, a bedroom, bathroom, and a living room, which has a small kitchen-like area where I can keep some snacks and make tea and stuff. It has room for a small fridge and a microwave, but I haven’t bothered to put them in because I’m literally fifteen feet from the communal kitchen. 

Besides, right now I just know I’ll accidentally fry them while I practice being a giant human battery so I can become skilled enough to join the Avengers. 

Bitter? Me? Perish the thought!

Actually, I don’t know if I’ll get to be an Avenger or not, but if I can’t control my so called gift, I’ll end up somewhere SHIELD call The Fridge. It’s where they lock up people with dangerous powers. 

“ _ Help _ ! Somebody help!” I heard Thor shout, which distracted me from my thoughts. 

I ran out into the hallway and to the communal area, where I could hear voices. 

“ _Get_ _off_ _me!_ ” Loki sounded pissed, and I arrived in time to see him shoving Thor’s hand away as he staggered to his feet.

“Brother, you need medical assistance!” 

“I’m fine! Get  _ off _ me!”

“Guys?” I said hesitantly. 

Loki turned away, but Thor turned to me, perhaps sensing I might be an ally. 

“I found my brother unconscious on the floor and now he is refusing my assistance! He needs to see a doctor, do you not agree, Lady Roxana?”

A cold feeling of dread settled in my stomach as I remembered the thud as I left. That hadn’t been Loki taking his anger out on something, that was Loki falling over after I had shocked the shit out of him!

Oh God, what had I done?!

During my silence, Loki shakily made his way to the sofas and sat down. He was moving very gingerly. 

“Lady Roxana?” Thor repeated. He must have noticed my guilty expression and realised something was wrong. 

“I, uh, I zapped Loki,” I admitted, feeling ashamed. 

“You!?” His eyebrows rose in shocked astonishment. “Oh!”

“Yeah, I, uh…” I raised my hand but rather than letting electricity arc between my fingers, I superheated the air above my hand until it glowed red. “I’m, uh, fully charged right now. Guess I don’t know my own strength...” 

“I’m sure you meant no harm,” Thor laughed and I saw Loki scowl behind him. “Normally it would be no issue, even my lightning cannot do him much damage, but since Odin bound most of his magic he does not have the same regenerative or protective abilities as usual.”

Oh God! I’d been zapping him for a week now, thinking it didn’t harm him! Sometimes he taunted me into it, in fact. 

“Thor!” Loki snapped. “Leave me be, and rejoin your _super_ _friends!_ ”

Thor rolled his eyes, but finally took the hint. 

“Do not fret, Lady Roxana, as powerful as you must be, no human can fell Loki for long.” And with that, he left. 

I approached the sofa with caution, unsure of the reaction I’d get. 

Loki seemed to want to ignore me and refused to look in my direction. I understood why. He felt that I’d seen a weakness, and men like Loki abhor weakness, especially in themselves.

“I’m sorry,” I told him softly. “I didn't know I was harming you.”

“You weren’t,” he assured me, but even he didn't sound like he believed it. 

I perched on the opposite end of Tony’s massive L-shaped couch, still afraid of his reaction, since wounded animals are often the most dangerous. 

“You taunted me,” I reminded him, unable to understand why he’d do that. 

“Because it’s pleasurable,” he explained, just a hint of snugness back in his voice. 

“No.” I shook my head. “You’re worse when I’m charged up.”

He didn't reply but kept his gaze focused on the television screen, which I’d muted earlier but hadn't turned off. 

“You understand that releasing a little energy makes it easier for me to handle the rest.” It was just a guess, but I was almost certain that his taunts weren’t just for his own amusement.

He still didn't answer and I sighed. Clearly this was getting us nowhere. 

“I’m sorry I zapped you so often,” I said softly. “And thank you.”

I got up and headed out as quietly as I could, still feeling terribly guilty. 

“It’s not releasing energy that helps you control it,” he said as I reached the entrance. 

“Pardon?” I daren’t turn around, keeping my head down and staring at the floor.

“The reason you can control the energy better after you’ve seen me is not because you zapped me,” he repeated. “I make you angry, and that anger makes you stronger. To truly master your gift you must learn to master your emotions.”

I turned back to see him looking at me. He looked... vulnerable? And I didn't think it was because I’d seen him hurt. No, he had just extended an olive branch and he wasn't sure if I’d accept it. 

“Is that how you control your powers?” I asked. 

“It was a large part of learning to wield seidr, yes.”

“Do you… Do you think you could teach me?” My voice was small, hesitant, because I knew Loki didn't help anyone willingly. 

And yet he  _ had _ been helping me. 

The vulnerability disappeared from his face and he smirked again as he tilted his head, considering my request. I was prepared for rejection. I figured it was just one of those things I had to get used to now. 

“Very well.” His tone was so self-satisfied that I wasn't sure if I believed him. “We begin tomorrow. Return here after you are done being tested.” He dismissed me.

I wondered why he couldn't start today but I quickly realised that, considering I’d zapped him unconscious, he might need some time to recover. 

I’d already realised that appearances were very important to Loki, and even if he needed a day to recover, he wouldn't say so. 

“Thank you.” I murmured, turning to leave, but not before catching him smiling at my static afro. 


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

The first time I met all the Avengers I stood in the entrance to one of the common areas of  _Stark_ _Tower_ , facing a collection of skeptical superheroes who had been engaged in a variery of activities until a second ago. I was intimidated as hell, but I was determined not to show it. I figured they wouldn’t want me if they thought I was a chicken.

Tony, who had brought me here, stepped forward, rubbing his hands together with a certain showman-like glee, as if he was gonna present me like some kinda Super Secret New Super Weapon ™ that  _ he  _ invented.

I’d only met him about an hour ago, when he collected me from a SHIELD base, but he seemed to know all about me before he’d even met me. He gave a speech of sorts, who I was, why I was here, but I confess, I wasn't really listening. 

Besides, SHIELD had already told me why I was here. Tony Stark and Bruce Banner were basically The Authority In All Things Superpowered and they were going to try and help me control my powers by turning me into a lab rat.  _ If _ they succeeded I  _ might  _ be asked to join the Avengers. 

So here I was, faced with superheros who had  _ literally _ saved the world just a few months ago. They wouldn't want me. Why  _ would _ they? Even my best friend hated me.

“So! What’s your Superpower Avengers name gonna be?” Tony interrupted my reverie.

_ Seriously?? What is he, six?  _ I thought, glancing around at the group arrayed before me with varying degrees of rolling eyes, and dubious interest. I wondered just what Tony had got me into.

“Lisa,” I deadpanned. Dead silence ruled for a good five seconds as they all looked from me to Tony and back. 

Except the tall, pale, dark haired dude sitting off to one side at the back. The corner of his mouth twitched up and a soft snort escaped him. Well at least somebody has a sense of humor here. I looked up and caught his eyes. His left eyebrow arched when I narrowed my eyes to take him in. To my surprise he narrowed his eyes right back at me.  _ Who is that guy, anyway?  _ I wondered. Gorgeous eyes…kinda scary.

“So, you gonna introduce me, or what?” I demanded.

I turned back to Tony, who was standing there looking a little irritated, as if he’d expected more excitement from me. I guess most people already knew who they were, while I had kept my head buried in the sand, writing the whole New York attack off as some kind of mass hysteria event. In my defence, more than a few newspapers had agreed with that. 

But when your own spooky powers kill your best friend’s boyfriend, then you’re snatched from the local jail by a super secret spy organisation, I realised that it might be time to rethink my stance on superpowers. 

“Man, you look like someone just killed your favorite chicken!” I said with a grin. My humor can get a little weird when I’m trying to cover being intimidated. Tony’s eyes bugged out a little, but before he could open his mouth to tell me to get the fuck out of his tower, a new voice broke in.

“Oh yeah, she’ll work out just fine.” The redhead stepped forward, raising her hand for a high five and a shared grin. “Anybody who can make Tony shut up-“

“Hey!” Tony blurted.

The redhead ignored him, turning her head to the stocky, sandy haired man next to her.

“How long was Tony silent, Clint?”

“37 seconds.” He said precisely. “Can we keep her?”

The woman turned back to me. “As I was saying, anybody who can make Tony shut up for 37 consecutive seconds is welcome to stay as long as she likes!”

“Hey!”

“Come on.” The redhead linked her arm through mine. “I’m Nat. I’ll show you to your room and introduce you around while I give you the grand tour.” 

“You almost make it sound like I want to be here,” I said, rather insensitively, but I had just been ripped away from a life I was quite enjoying. 

As we walked away I looked back over my shoulder and I saw Tony still looking surprised, while the black haired man was trying to hide a smile. 

***

I sat crossed legged on the floor, facing Loki as he tried to explain how emotion affected his powers. 

Anger was very good at helping control powers, and often an easy emotion to foster, but it had to be the right kind, he explained. Rage was no good—it would make me stronger but unpredictable. No, only the slow burn anger was good for control, which was exactly what he had induced in me, angering me just enough to seeth but not enough to rage. 

He also explained that I had already been controlling my powers, shocking him with small, controlled bursts thanks to my irritation with him. 

Except that last time, when I’d zapped him strongly enough to knock his ass  _ out _ . I guess that was what he meant by rage making it harder to control my powers.

“Don’t focus on failures,” he pulled me from my dark thoughts. “Failure breeds failure. Remember only your successes.”

I nodded my understanding. 

“Do it now!” he said impatiently. 

I closed my eyes and tried to remember a time I’d lightly shocked him. 

“Do you have the memory?” he asked.

“Yes.” 

“Good, now breathe deeply and slowly.” He basically talked me through some relaxation or meditation techniques, his voice like smooth dark chocolate, soothing me until I forgot everything but the memory I was focusing on. It was like being back there, and everything I could remember felt real. 

He made me relive that memory a few times until I was able to slow it down and relive it almost in slow motion. I knew humans couldn't do this so I wondered if he was helping me with his magic. 

“Focus!” 

I jumped. How could he know the direction my thoughts had taken? Sometimes I swear he’s a fucking mind reader!

It took a while to get back into that trance-like state where I could relive the memory, but I did, and this time I didn't lose focus. I could feel the decision to shock Loki, then I could feel the slight  _ tingle _ as I directed the charge down through my arm and arced into his body. Then I could feel myself pulling back on the tingle before I could harm him. 

“Again,” Loki ordered.

I replayed the memory again, this time even noticing how the hairs on my arm stood up as I went to shock him. 

He made me replay the memory in slow motion nine times, until I had literally noticed every detail, from the room temperature to changes in my body temperature. I even noticed the very slight buzzing of a fly! I hadn't even registered that on the day. 

Then again, I hadn't registered any of this on the day. 

“Open your eyes,” Loki ordered and I did. 

I felt odd, blinking almost as if I was waking up from a sleep. I rubbed my eyes and flexed my fingers. I could almost feel the residual tingle left after discharging a small shock. 

Then I noticed Loki rubbing his left hand. 

My right hand was tingling.

Had I… Had I actually been shocking Loki?!

“Did I hurt you?” I asked, feeling appalled after knocking him out the day before. 

“Just a tickle,” he lied. 

“I thought I was just remembering!” I felt awful. “I’m so sorry, Loki, I didn't know I—” 

“Of course you didn't, I put you into a trance.” His tone dripped with condescension. 

“You . . . What?”

“You needed to feel how discharging energy works and an ordinary memory doesn't have that detail I put you in a trance so you could better feel what happens when you shock someone.” 

“But the memory?”

“Reliving that memory allowed you to issue a controlled burst of energy, which I have to say was for my safety more than yours.”

I didn't know how I felt about being put into a trance, or being lied to. I mean, I didn't like being deceived, but I had just issued a number of controlled shocks. 

“Now,” Loki said, rising from the floor and backing away from me. He waved his hands and suddenly I was sitting in a sandbox. “The sand will be superheated by your energy bursts, which will liquidize it until it melts into glass. The size of the glass will give us an indication of how much power you are using so you can learn to control it.”

“I didn't know you had enough magic to conjure things.” I said, looking around at the sand.

“Conjuring is a parlour trick, a child could do it,” he said dismissively. “Now discharge some energy.”

I pictured a child’s marble and shot a small energy blast into the sand. 

Loki doubly surprised me then by sending a blast of cold air at the sand, and I could have sworn his eyes glowed red for a second. His eyes changed back before I could be certain, then he levitated my ‘marble’ out of the sandbox. 

It was really more of a misshapen football. 

Still, this was the first time I’d ever felt like I might be able to gain control, so I wasn't going to beat myself up too much. 

Thanks to his freeze the sand was kind of chilly against my butt now, so I got out of the sand pit but I kept practising discharging small bursts of energy until I had something that looked kinda like a nightmarish grapefruit. 

“Not bad for your first lesson,” Loki said as he waved his hand and the sandbox disappeared in a green shimmer. Coming from him, that was high praise indeed. “Now, go and visit Stark and Banner to discharge your remaining energy, then brush your hair, you look ridiculous.” 

I’d almost forgotten about my lovely static ‘fro. 

***

For the next three days Loki trained me on managing my emotions.

I imagined his training to be much like an actor’s, for he taught me to call on prior memories in order to elicit an emotional reaction now. 

There were no trances during these lessons, just him asking for stories from my life, a happy story, a sad story, a funny story, a time I’d been angry, or frustrated. For each he told me to be aware of how my control of the charge I was carrying felt. 

The sad story of how my cat died made me shoot off random energy pulses, sometimes not even from my hands, the energy just arced from me to something else. Recounting the time I’d been terrified because I thought a date was going to rape me was even worse! I did quite a bit of damage to the common room that day, but no one seemed to mind and Tony had replaced and redecorated everything within 48 hours. I’m not sure how he got the char marks off the ceiling. When I asked he just smiled and said, “I have my ways.”

I was mortified and angry with Loki for making me do that damage, for he surely knew what those emotions would do to  _ me _ . 

He answered my accusations with the assured logic that yes, he did know how dangerous those emotions could be for someone such as me, but I had needed to see for myself. While I was learning to control my power they didn't charge me up with too much energy, so it was better to learn that lesson now than, say, after having absorbed one of Thor’s lightning blasts.

Clearly if I wanted to be an Avenger, I would need to overcome my natural fear reflex or I might put my team down faster and more efficiently than any enemy could. 

Happy memories made me more confident, but the cold anger he’d told me about was even better than happiness. Laughter didn't have any effect over that of happiness. Frustration increased the size of my afro and made me spark a time or two, but nothing too serious. 

The most effective emotion was when he asked me to tell him a story of a time I’d been successful, or had won something. Somehow just remembering a time I was proud of myself was enough to increase my competence now, to the point that my static halo even died down a little. 

Loki’s homework had me meditating and recalling other such times of happiness, confidence and anger, since those were the best emotions for fine tuning my gift, so I needed to be able to recall the emotions at will.

It was easier said than done, but I think controlling my emotions was becoming a little easier each day.

We then spent a few days trying to master energy blasts, turning sand to glass once more. 

Comparing the size of the melted sand balls I made seemed very inefficient and I did wonder why he didn't test me in the lab, which had machinery enough to absorb and measure my energy discharges, but if I’m honest the sand was more fun. 

Maybe that’s why Loki prefered it too. 

Once I was able to control my energy discharge and melt sand the size of a marble, I began trying to make sculptures, blasting the sand with numerous small energy discharges to try and make various shapes. I had some limited success, if you assume I was indeed trying to make a glass anal bead butt plug.

Once I presented no danger and could be left to practice making phallic glass sculptures on my own, Loki put a huge sandbox on the roof for me to practice with any time I wanted and turned his attention to my ability to transform energy from one type to another. We did this before I was charged up for the day, so I could practice taking in small and controllable amounts of energy and transforming them into new forms of energy. 

Honestly, kinetic was the hardest to change both from and into, but I could see the value in being able to launch a shock wave, either felling opponents from a distance, or possibly even taking down spaceships.

Right now it was a challenge to just transform the electromagnetic energy I absorbed from the sun into enough heat to toast a bagel. 

The whole process was draining and not at all fun. 

On day five I could tell Loki was growing frustrated. 

“All right, enough toast for today,” he told me, and I spotted a mischievous glint in his eyes. “We’ll divide our sessions between converting energy, and passing energy.”

“Passing energy?” I sounded confused. “You mean zapping things?” 

“No, I mean passing someone your energy, harmlessly. Not all beings can, but when I’m at full power, I can turn most forms of energy to seidr. Obviously if you were to hit Thor with lightning, not only wouldn't you hurt him, you would help him. The lightning recharges Thor’s physical strength as well as being a weapon.”

Huh. I’d never considered that before. 

“Even with humans, the ability to transfer some heat to them could be life saving for those with hypothermia, but only once you’ve learned to control it.”

“Okay?” I sounded hesitant because I’d never considered the possibility of being able to do some  _ good _ with my gift. 

“Now, let’s start with something harmless, static.”

“Static?” I repeated. I’d never even really considered that the cause of my flyaway hair was a form of energy. It was just an irritating by-product of my talent.

“Static electricity is a form of energy, and a strong enough static charge can attract or repel objects.”

Of course! Static was caused by too many or too few electrons, which my holding an electric charge was probably responsible for. I would guess my hair was losing electrons because I was leaking energy. My skin was probably the same, that was why I gave shocks to everything I touched. But of course a whole head of hair has a much larger surface area than the body, hence the static ‘fro.

Hey, maybe I wasn't so bad at this science stuff! Nobel Prize, here I come!

“So I can pass a static charge?” 

“Of course, you just pass a stream of electrons.” 

“Wait, electricity is a stream of electrons . . . right?”

“Exactly.” 

“But my hair doesn't spark.”

“Because the charge is within the hair. Lightning and electricity arcing between your fingers are the same phenomenon, superheated electrons in the air, which creates plasma, the fourth state of matter, which is-”

I think my eyes may have glazed over. Maybe that Nobel would have to wait another few years. By the time he was done explaining, I had a headache from just trying to understand him .

He put me back into a trance state, where I was hyper aware of myself, and told me to shock him, using just a 12v batteries to charge myself up. Absorbing such a small charge took a few tries for me to feel but eventually I honed in on the sensation. I was going right down to the atomic level now, feeling the electrons in my molecules as they passed through my body. 

Directing such a small charge took some doing, larger charges just naturally seem drawn to my hands and skin, trying to expel themselves, but my body wanted to absorb this tiny electric charge. Eventually I sent it to my fingertips and after a few tries, sent the electrons to Loki via touch. He assured me he could barely feel it and I pulled the charge back and sent it out a few times until I felt I had perfected the technique. 

Part of me hoped his hair would go into a mad static halo like mine, but I obviously wasn't giving him enough electrons to make his hair stand on end. Ah well, maybe I could try again later after the Science Bros had supercharged me. 


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

I walked toward the communal kitchen in search of a cup of tea. I’d pretty much stopped my inadvertent frying of the kitchen appliances through simple touch, and Tony hadn’t had to replace the refrigerator in almost two weeks! A fact for which you’d think I’d get a little praise, or even gratitude.  But noooo! Ever since I fried his beloved coffee maker, Tony has started calling me snarky names every time he sees me.

Loki’s ‘Foxy’ was annoying enough, even though I’ve come to kinda like it. But Tony is really beginning to piss me off with his shit. Yesterday it was Refrigerator Magnet. The day before it was Sparky. Last time I fried his precious coffee maker, it was Discharge!

Anyway, I was contemplating Loki’s lesson on heat transference and how to apply it to making a cup of tea. Using the right container is important. Last time I’d tried to heat the water right in my tea cup. It worked a treat until I’d picked it up and it shattered, slicing a finger open. Boiling water is fine but superheating is not.

That had earned me a lecture on heat conduction and responsible use of powers while Loki dragged my ass over to the sink and shoved my hand under the cold water.

“You need to concentrate!” he said, his voice level but sharp and full of rebuke. “You could have seriously hurt yourself!”

“It’s just a scratch,” I argued, a little put out at his scolding tone.

“And if someone else had been in the vicinity? I know heat can't hurt you, but it can seriously scald everyone else!”

Loki flicked his fingers and set some sort of containment field around the boiling tea and shards of tea cup on the floor to protect others from the lava-like liquid and cup shards.

“I’m sorry.” My voice was weak, pathetic.

“You should be!” his voice was rising now.

I was just focusing on the red swirl of blood as it ran into the sink drain with the water, wondering if I’d need stitches.

Loki’s lecture was more painful than my hand and tears rolled down my face as he dried my hand, then firmly wrapped it in a tissue and applied pressure.

His lecture turned to the science of my gift and I didn't really understand much of what he was saying, but the censure in his tone was inescapable.

I told myself my tears were because of the pain in my hand, and fuck! It really did hurt. But disappointing Loki, I mean _my_ _teacher_ , hurt worse.

Sure, he was arrogant and temperamental and insulting, but over the past few weeks I’d come to respect him. He wasn't nearly as bad as most people thought, in fact I thought he was pretty great at times.

Loki steered me over to the table, pushed me into a chair and magicked a first aid kit onto the table while continuing his lecture and utterly ignoring my sniveling. But he was very gentle as he bandaged my hand, however brusque his voice.

It wasn’t until he ran out of science and continued to scold me for being foolish, impatient and heedless, that I realised how upset he’d been.

Finally my finger was cleaned, dressed and bandaged and his words lost some of their venom as he cleaned up after himself.

“I _am_ sorry,” I tried again.

He looked into my eyes for the first time since he started and I thought I saw a shadow of regret when he saw how upset I was.

Loki sighed with exasperation. “Come here,” he said as he got to his feet, then pulled me up and wrapped his long arms around me.

He’d never been physical with me before so it took me a moment to relax, but when I did I was surprised by now natural it felt. To look at Loki, with his horned helmet and even spikier personality, you’d think he would be cold and hard to the touch too, but folded up in his long arms, all I felt was warm and protected . . . and forgiven.

My tears fell harder for a while, not just crying about today, but about everything I’d bottled up since that fateful day. I’d been ripped away from my life, my friends, my job, shipped to the other side of the country and tested every day until I felt like a fuckin’ test tube with legs.

I was free to call people, obviously, but I didn't really have anyone left to call but my parents.

He rubbed my hair with long, slow strokes meant to relax me, and before long my tears dried up and I was calming down. Still he held me and I had no objections. In fact I tightened my grip on him.

I finally raised my head off his chest and looked up at him, and suddenly his embrace wasn't nearly so comforting, nor comfortable anymore.

His piercing blue eyes seemed to bore into me and suddenly I felt nervous, but in a good way.

I don’t know how long we stood there, staring at each other, it might have been hours but was probably only minutes. My heart clenched as his scent enveloped me. He smelled like a pine forest on a winter’s morning.

“Roxy,” he rasped, and on his lips my name became the sexiest sound I’d ever heard.

Before I could respond, Tony coughed and we jumped apart like children caught raiding the cookie jar.

Shit! I knew I was in for an ear full now. I’d been warned right from the start to be careful of Loki, not to trust him or anything. Once it became known he was training me, and was actually good at it, they accepted him helping me, but suspicions deepened. They stopped warning me directly, but I heard whispers. I think they were afraid that he was training me to be _his_ weapon. Seducing me would fit right in with that theory.

“Well what do you know, looks like Assault and Battery are kicking things up a notch and you’re finally giving into that electric charge that’s been pulling you two together for the past month.” Tony headed for the fridge, helped himself to an energy drink, popped the tab and took a long swig as he left strutted out.

Really? A little smart mouth was all I was getting?

“That was… unexpected,” Loki sounded confused.

Did he mean the almost kiss—and it _would_ have ended in a kiss, and maybe more—or Tony’s reaction?

“I uh, I better go see if he’s okay.” I scurried after Tony, not even daring to look back at Loki, almost as if I was afraid I’d be hypnotised by those eyes again.

I needed space to think before anything else happened.

So now here I was, trying not to remember the last time I tried to make a cup of tea, because failure breeds failure.  

I’d spent the last day thinking about what happened yesterday . . . or what almost happened.

Did I want it to happen again? If so, what _else_ did I want to happen? Was it possible the others were right and he was using me for his own purpose? If so, were his intentions really nefarious, or was I just a distraction from his loneliness?

Because, yes, Loki was forced to be around people for most of the day, but being alone in a crowd is the worst. The Avengers all seemed to distrust Loki, except for Thor, and maybe Bruce.

Thor truly believed his brother was good, and he had nigh on 1000 years to base that belief on. Everyone else was basing their condemnation on his actions over a few days.

Granted, his constant snark and sarcasm didn't endear him to people, but that felt like a defence mechanism to me.

Where I grew up, half the kids were on the breadline, a third had mental health issues in the family, the same again had drink or drug issues, and people from those families would do anything to save face. The worse the home life, the more vulnerable they felt, and the tougher the exterior they painted on.

Compared to most of my friends I was lucky. My dad was a foreman at the local plant, so he earned a little more and had a little more job security. When my Mom fell ill, we had insurance but it still put us into debt, especially since, thanks to the chemo, she couldn't keep her cleaning job.

Some days I felt it might be kinder to let her go, and those days were when the face I showed the world was at its strongest, it’s most angry and defensive.

By some miracle, my Mom lived and our lives got back into some kind of order. I still remember putting on that mask each morning though, the one that said, “Go away! Don’t touch me! Leave me alone! I’m fine!” Hell, after recent events, I still wear that mask now!

After my Mom’s illness, I recognised that so many of the so-called tough kids in my neighbourhood were really just hurting and trying desperately to hide it, like I had been.

I think the same is true for Loki. I don’t know how or why, but he’s in pain, and he’s desperate not to show it.

I decided to give up on heating my own water and filled the kettle. Parlour tricks like that would have to wait until I was more confident.

“Good morning,” Loki said as he entered the kitchen and sat at the large table.

“Hi.”

He sounded totally normal, no weirdness or anything.

But the silence was becoming uncomfortable.

“I’m making tea if you want a cup,” I offered. “The old fashioned way,” I hastened to add.

“Thank you, yes.”

I made two cups and brought them to the table, hoping things weren’t going to be awkward.

“Thank you,” he said as I passed him the cup. “This morning I thought we’d work on energy exchange. We’ve touched on it, but I think it’s time you learned to both give and take energy in a mutually beneficial exchange.”

Great, so we were going to ignore yesterday’s events. I didn't like that idea but since I still had no clue what I did want to happen, I accepted it without any fuss.

“Sounds good,” I said with an artificially bright smile.

He began by explaining what he wanted to happen, then he took both my hands so our arms formed a circle. I tried not to think about how nice his hands felt, or how holding his hands was making me have some rather impure thoughts as I wondered what the rest of him would feel like to the touch.

I was pulled from my reverie by his rich voice telling me to relax and choose a confident memory.

Thanks to my distraction it took me quite a few tries but I eventually managed to pull a flow of electrons from him. I could probably have taken some thermal energy or chemical energy, but electrons were what I was most practiced with since Tony and Bruce loaded me up with electricity every day.

An hour later I was getting bored with all the repetition and science gobbledygook. Well, not bored exactly, but… Yeah okay, I was bored. BORED.

I’d given him energy before but now he wanted me to both take and give at the same time, create an endless loop of energy, he described it.

“I don't . . .” I couldn’t even put my lack of understanding into words but luckily he seemed to understand and he explained about how Thor and I could possibly work together in battle, with Thor and I both drawing down power, then either giving it to the other, or using it together.

While I listened attentively to Loki’s lecture on the Art and Science of Electromagnetism, it was really more Loki that held my attention, rather than the science.

He invariably grew more animated when he spoke, waving his hands about as he lovingly described the ebb and flow and of electrons, comparing them to to the strength and flow of a roaring river or a trickling brook. His long, elegant fingers seeming to twist and pluck, direct and caress them as he talked.

And that smooth, soothing voice… God.

Well, I _was_ listening and learning! I’m not just some airhead with Professor fantasies! That is until it comes time to meditate. _Then_ the Professor just wouldn’t stop invading my head, destroying my concentration...and my control.

But while his understanding of my powers was scientific, mine was instinctual. He did his best to dumb things down for me, but he also realised that practical lessons were more useful than theory.

We’d worked on discovering how my different emotions and my control over them affected my gift, but we hadn’t explored one strong emotion: Lust.

And damn, that one just keeps turning up...

“What’s wrong?” he asked, and I realised I’d missed the last few things he’d been explaining.

I was probably a little off my game this morning because I’d been up half the night wondering what to do about the almost kiss. If I ever got back into teaching, I vowed to never to roll my eyes at the melodramatic teenage love dramas that plagued my students. I was nearly twice their age and I was mooning like a lovestruck teenager.

“You’re tired,” he noted.

It both bothered and pleased me that he could read me so well.

“A little.”

He rubbed a finger over his lips as he thought for a moment.

Then he smirked. “We have been getting bogged down in the minutiae recently,” he said.

That smile worried me a little, but before I could respond, he was striding from the room.

“Well come on!” he called over his shoulder when he saw I wasn't following, and I jogged to catch him up. Good or bad, I wasn't about to miss seeing what had put that cheeky smile on his face.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

After charging me up from a socket in his bedroom, Loki made me practice not only transferring energy to him, but seeing if I could direct it to a specific part of his body. 

Since he’d laughed at mine so often, the thought of giving him a static halo was more than a little enticing and you could say that I was  _ very  _ motivated to succeed!

Unfortunately, although I mastered the art relatively quickly, Loki’s magical abilities meant that he was quickly able to damp the fuzz down to his usual brushed back, slightly curly ‘do. 

_ Bastard _ ! I narrowed my eyes at him.

I mean, he’d been laughing at me for  _ weeks _ , couldn't he let me laugh at him for one lousy afternoon?

He soon soothed my irritation with the offer of practicing by giving the Avengers each their own nice static ‘fro.

We shared an evil smile at that thought. 

_ Oh, this is gonna be fun. _

Once I stopped touching them, the static would slowly dissipate over time. The trick, he advised, was to do it to someone who was alone, and do it so subtly that they wouldn’t realise. Then we just had to wait until they happened across someone who would find their coiffure rather comical. 

I got my chance at Tony the very next morning. And what’s more, he fucking  _ deserved _ it too!

I staggered into the kitchen in search of coffee not even caring that my hair was standing on end, albeit from bedhead this time. 

Tony turned around with a giant mug of coffee in his hand, slurping rather rudely.

“Well, if it isn’t the Highway to Hell,” he snarked.

My face scrunched in confusion.

“AC/DC. Get it?” Tony smirked, clearly proud of his own cleverness.

I groaned, slapping a hand over my face.

“Jesus Tony, you’re going to hurt yourself reaching so far up into your ass to pull gems like that out!” I growled at him, not at all happy to be dealing with this crap before I’d even had my morning coffee.

Loki’s eyebrows drew down as he frowned. He  _ hated  _ not being in on a joke. Like it was a personal insult.

“What does a highway to hell, and alternating and direct currents have to do with each other?” He asked in an irritated tone.

Tony grinned like he’d been waiting for it.  _ Oh, no— _

“Jarvis, give us Highway to Hell, by AC/DC, dial up to eleven.”

A wall of sound crashed over us. Loki actually yelled in pain and clapped his hands over his ears. Tony just stood there smirking like a loon.

“By the nine!” Loki shouted over the jarring music. “What in Hel is that noise??”

“Jarvis, turn it off!” I shouted. But Jarvis doesn’t work for  _ me,  _ and Tony had given him the order, so I was outta luck. Or rather, Tony was outta four fancy hidden speakers. 

I aimed simultaneous blasts at the speakers and fried them. The sudden silence was almost as loud as the music had been. Hey, it was self defense, okay?

“Goddamn it, Roxy! Quit breaking my toys!” Tony roared at me.

I stalked up to him, nose to nose, and poked him in the chest with one finger, delivering a small shock right above his arc reactor. Tony went pale and jumped back.

“What the fuck is the matter with you?! They played that shit at prisoners of war in Guantanamo, but they at least had the humanity not to torture them first thing in the damn morning!”

I knew from muttering epithets under my breath that Loki’s hearing was  _ way _ more sensitive than ours. I glanced at him as he was cautiously pulling his hands from his ears. He looked shaken, wincing wide eyes darting around the room as if expecting another aural assault. Loki would be furious if I drew attention to his ‘weakness’. I was furious myself!

Tony was beginning to regain his cockiness with a smug little smile at getting away with his little prank. After all, he could easily afford to replace the speakers. I couldn’t decide if he was so arrogant that he didn’t notice that he’d actually  _ hurt _ Loki, or if he did it on purpose and just didn’t  _ care. _ It’s only Loki after all, right? 

But  _ I  _ cared, dammit! 

I needed to teach him a lesson. Besides, I’m pretty sure that if I didn’t, Loki  _ would _ . And that could go _ so  _ badly for  _ everyone.  _ I sighed.

“Tony, it’s too damned  _ early _ for your stupidity! Nobody thinks you’re funny!  _ Especially  _ before coffee!” I narrowed my eyes at him and said menacingly, “You’ll pay for this.” 

For a genius, Tony can be remarkably stupid. He just kept smirking at me.

“Yeah, yeah. Bring it, Short Circuit!”

Fucking egotistical twit. I nonchalantly turned away and went to his precious coffee machine, reaching for a cup. For the first time, Tony looked a little worried. Of all his vast array of  _ stuff _ , he likes his coffee maker the best, and it always takes at least a couple of hours to get a replacement installed. I had politely refrained from touching it, once I had realised how OCD he was about the thing, and how it really upset him.

But I poured myself a cup and doctored it in silence, being careful  _ not  _ to fry the machine. I turned around and propped myself against the counter, regarding Tony over the rim of my steaming cup, sipping delicately at the delicious brew and staring him down.

I’m pretty sure he got my message. He made a wide circle around me as he went to refill his cup. I ignored him.

I focused instead on Loki, who still seemed a bit pale, but had his narrowed eyes on Tony, obviously contemplating his own retaliation.

Hmm. This might be a good time to try out the fine static control that Loki had been teaching me…

Tony took his cup and cheerily waved a hand as he started toward the door. I glanced over and winked at Loki. A little spark of malicious glee lit his eyes and he nodded.

“Well, y’all have a good day, now!” Tony said carelessly. On his way past me I concentrated very carefully, brushing a finger against his jeans in a barely there contact.

Tony came to a dead stop, his eyes wide and staring down at himself in consternation. He shifted from foot to foot uncomfortably, then hitched his pants with a grimace. The penny finally dropped and he shot me an accusing glare.

I smiled serenely back at him over my cup.

“Yeah, you have a good day too, ball-boy. Make good choices and mind your short ‘n curlies!”

Tony skittered past me with a wary look. Hey, if I could make his pubic hair stand on end with a static charge, who knew what else I could shock down there?

Loki and I waited until he’d left the room before breaking into gales of laughter.

***

From that point on, someone sported a static ‘fro every day, although I confined them to the head. 

Steve had grown his hair out a little and his blonde halo made him look kind of angelic, in a ridiculous way. Bruce, Clint and Tony didn't have an awful lot of length but it made them look like they were trying out for an 80s rock band, like Europe. In fact I’d taken to humming The Final Countdown on the days they sported a ‘fro.

Somehow Thor actually managed to pull the look off as it sort of made him look like a lion. A comical lion, yes, but it suited him. 

I even got some SHIELD agents when they visited. Maria Hill was our most frequent guest and looked like the before picture in one of those commercials that starts, “Is your hair dry and damaged? Do you look like you’ve been dragged backwards through a hedge? Then you need this ridiculously overpriced coconut oil conditioner!”

No one seemed to mind my antics too much, and in fact they started a book taking bets each day on who would get that day’s halo. 

Some, mentioning no names—Clint, Tony and Thor—even started trying to rile me up at the people they’d bet on, but Loki being the god of lies, he always spotted the whoppers and was kind enough to fill me in. 

Some days no one sported a ‘fro, but the only person to escape so far was Nat. I’m sorry, I will risk the wrath of the Hulk before I’d piss off Natasha. 

As such, the odds on her went down to begin with, because surely she’d be next, then they began to climb when it became clear I never targeted her. 

Until she suggested it. 

“So, I’m thinking you and me and the guys of our choice need a night on the town. As nice as this place is, you’ve been locked up for three months now, and I’ve just put the final report into SHIELD to say that you’re officially safe to be around other people. It’ll take them about two days to review and sign off on it,” she explained one afternoon.

My grin felt ridiculously wide. Oh, a night out! What a novel idea! 

Nat laughed at my evident glee. 

“I was also thinking that the odds on me are getting pretty good now so if you wanted to lay off the static for a few days, then give me a static fro on Friday, I’m pretty sure the pot will cover the cost for everyone.”

“I can’t believe you,” I laughed. “Only you could find a way to make my power actually pay.”

Nat smiled in return. “So, you in?”

“I’m in.” 

We shook on it and Nat turned to leave. 

“Oh, wait, is Loki allowed to leave?” I asked.

She turned back, a knowing smile on her lips. “He’s been cleared for a while, he just hasn't shown any interest in leaving, outside of missions.”

That was weird. 

I thanked her and spent the rest of the day wondering what the best way was to ask a—possibly agoraphobic—god out on a date. 

Why was nothing with Loki ever easy?


End file.
